FC Salzburg

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The FC Salzburg was an Austrian football club from the Salzburg district of Taxham , which consisted 1968-1996. It was brought into being by the former member of the state parliament, Franz Spann, as Union Edelweiß Taxham and rose from the last Salzburg division to the 2nd Bundesliga within 14 years . At times it was even the best-ranked club in the entire state, ahead of SV Austria .

history

Prehistory - The leisure footballers Inter Tengling

In the 1960s there were no gyms or grass fields in Taxham that would have enabled the local population to practice sports. A small group of Taxhamers finally got together to take their first steps in football and fought for the round leather from 1965 under the name Inter Tengling . At that time, sport and camaraderie and not professional football were the focus of club activities. In 1967 this group of amateur footballers was able to acquire a small sports field under the new name Inter Salzburg and with the help of the ÖJB (Austrian Youth Movement) and thus lay the foundation for the further development of the hobby club into a professional football club.

The founding years of Union Edelweiss Taxham

In the late autumn of 1968, Franz Spann, in his function as regional chairman of the ÖJB Salzburg and the state secretary Richard Unger from Taxham, together with Messrs. Prucher, Johann Iwanoff, Johann Zaunrieth and OAR Walter Hofer, decided to create the existing team as a new club under the name Union Register Edelweiß Taxham with the Salzburg Football Association. When the club was officially founded, the club colors were also set as green and white.

In the 1970/71 season, exactly in the year in which the future competitor Austria Salzburg won his first runner-up title in the National League, he entered the Salzburg championship in the third class north. Already in 1972/73 the Taxhamers won the championship title of the last Salzburg division and were promoted to 2nd class A. In the same year, the Taxhamers' small soccer field was expanded into a sports facility and opened. With second place behind SU Abtenau, Union Edelweiß qualified in the 1973/74 season for the next higher division, 1st class north, in which it again took a sensational second place in the 1974/75 promotion season, this time behind SV Hallwang . In 1977 they celebrated their next success with the championship title of 1st class north and promotion to the fourth class national class, later called the Salzburg League.

In the 1978/79 season he won the championship title in front of ASV Zell am See and, associated with it, was promoted to the third-class Alpine league for the first time . The young club has played its way up to the third level in Austria within nine years of entering the championship in the last class. After finishing ninth in the promotion season, the Taxhamers had to leave the third division now called Regionalliga West again as twelfth in the table and played in the Salzburg league again for one season. In 1982 the second championship title followed in this league and again promotion to the regional league.

The rise of the UPS Salzburg

In the regional league, the sports union from Taxham measured itself against the best clubs in Western Austria and was just before the gates of the second Austrian division. For this reason, in the summer of 1983 in Taxham they saw themselves compelled to abandon the founding name and baptized the entire sports club , which had now grown to six sections ( football , gymnastics , orienteering , tennis , cycling , skiing , cross-country skiing and table tennis ) as the Union Sports Club (USV) Salzburg around. In the Regionalliga West, the USV Salzburg started with a 6th place, but in the following season 1983/84 already celebrated the championship title before Austria Lustenau and the associated promotion to the 2nd division of the Bundesliga.

With this up to then greatest success in the club's history, FC Salzburg managed to move up from the last amateur class to the then 2. Bundesliga within 15 years and thus set an Austrian record that is still valid today (2007).

In Austria's second highest level, the USV Salzburg came in in 1984/85 with players like Schneider, Romeo Traxler, Götsch, Helmut & Josef Bauer and Lehenbauer out of 16 clubs in 10th place and missed relegation by just one point. Due to the introduction of the twelve leagues in the two top divisions, nine clubs had to be relegated from the league this season. The regional league was finished in third place in the following game year behind the previous year’s relegated team SC Kufstein and WSG Wattens , but as early as 1985/86 the Union athletes were eleven points ahead of superior champions of the third stage over VfB Hohenems . Back in the 2nd division, the new sponsor name USV System-Standbau Salzburg showed good results in the autumn championship held with twelve clubs and was able to place itself in the middle of the table. A qualification for the middle play-off, in which the last four of the first and the four best teams of the second Bundesliga played off the promoted and relegated teams, was out of the question this year. Finally, they finished fourth among eight clubs in the lower play-off.

The great years of FC Salzburg

In July 1988 the club celebrated its 20th anniversary with a friendly game against the national team of Japan and was able to present a financially potent club sponsor for the first time in the form of the beverage manufacturer Afri Cola-Bluna . The football section of the union sports club then renamed itself FC Salzburg on July 15, 1988 and, as contractually agreed, appeared under the sponsorship name FC Bluna Salzburg over the next few years .

The preparation for the new season was carried out optimally by long-time coach Peter Roither, the team was strengthened in a few points and there was open speculation with this squad about a place in the promotion round. In the first eleven games of the autumn season, however, things did not go as expected for FC Salzburg. The funds promised by the new sponsor were delayed and with the squad from the previous year they only reached third from last place in the first half of the autumn championship. When the funds flowed in, the Bundesliga players Harald Eder from FC Swarovski Tirol and Hannes Reinmayr from FK Austria Wien could be borrowed.

The city derbies in 1988

The green and white FC played great games against their purple and white city rivals SV Austria Salzburg . In the first game on August 23, 1988, the Taxhamers, in which many former Austria players such as Hans-Peter Berger and Gerhard Perlak formed the team framework, celebrated a 5-3 victory over Lehener Austria before a game that was well attended for the second division conditions at the time . The goals for FC were scored by Perlak Sr., Auer, Tomic and Schneider. The second round match on October 22, 1988 was also played in the Lehen stadium and FC Salzburg won 2-1 with goals from Reinmayer and Auer. Thus, in the only Bundesliga season in which two clubs from the city of Salzburg were represented in the second division at the same time, Salzburg Austria remained without a win or points against their "little brother" and FC Salzburg was number one in his for the first time for a short time State. However, the Taxhamers had always struggled with the fact that they were shunned by the Salzburg fans as an upstart with no history, while the then financially weak Austria with its long tradition also knew its fans behind them in the second division. Nevertheless, the club's own facility in Taxham was increasingly being moved to the Lehen stadium, even if some matches were attended by just 800 fans. Austria did what it always used to do when a competitor in its own city became too big for it; it tried to merge with the upstart. However, as the merger with the Salzburg AK 1914 to form FC Casino SAK failed in 1986, this first attempt at merging with the green and white FC was also rigorously rejected by the Taxhamers. The Taxhamers' conviction to rise to number one in Salzburg and to stay there was evident, for example, in the statement by Werner Roither, the association's head of marketing at the time, which read: “We can easily expect that we will become number one because that's them Austria will not be able to grapple financially or only with great difficulty ”. The planned FC Austria Taxham remained a project that was never implemented, but this was not the last attempt at a green-purple fusion.

The just missed climb

In the last few laps, the battle for qualifying places came to a head. With the well-known Paul Perstling from the Austrian record champion SK Rapid Wien, FC Salzburg signed a strong and technically adept midfielder and kept the chance of the promotion round with a great 4-1 win against competitor VfB Union Mödling , while the great Austria with a goalless A draw at SV Stockerau greatly reduced their chances of promotion. With this success, Edmond Tomic, who was brought to the Taxhamern by coach Roither from SV Spittal / Drau in the summer and scored the most goals at FC, Reinmayr and Co. were on the verge of promotion to the 1st division.

Then came the game against DSV Alpine . The Salzburg team was in the lead until three minutes before the end and was thus firmly in the ascent round when a lucky shot by Donawitzer Stablhofer put Taxham's dreams of promotion on hold for the time being. In the last game against FC Kufstein , the Taxhamers gave away the decisive match point against their opponents shortly before the end and ultimately missed the long-awaited ascent by a single goal with a tie . At the same time, Austria, which had been declared dead, celebrated the first step towards returning to the top division with their dreaded striker duo Srecko "Felix" Kurbasa and Hans Krankl . The violets were accompanied in the promotion round by Kremser SC , Flavia Solva and FC Kufstein.

In the spring season, things didn't go as they wanted for Salzburg. Many top performers in the autumn championship had to struggle with form fluctuations (Reinmayr, Novokmet) or injuries (Eder, Auer) and the narrowly missed promotion did not get out of the players' heads so easily. Furthermore, FC Salzburg, which started as the leader in the spring championship, had to endure the halving of points after the autumn round, which was common at the time, reducing the comfortable lead of 10 points over the runner-up to five points. SV Stockerau was able to benefit from this , having scored three points less over the entire season, but was able to place itself just ahead of FC Salzburg due to the division of points in the final table. The Taxhamers finally took 6th place in the relegation play-off and left the second level again in the direction of the regional league.

Squad for the 1988/89 season

Peter Brutti, Wilhelm Aichinger, Torsten Thonhauser, Hans-Peter Berger (goalkeepers); Peter Schneider, Josef Lehenbauer, Walter Drachgschwandtner, Hans-Peter Bauer, Stefan Rehrl, Robert Fischbacher, Manfred Götsch, Romeo Traxler, Jako Novokmet (YUG), Robert Brandner, Gerhard Perlak, Manfred Mader, Wolfgang Auer, Harald Junger, Edmond Tomic ( YUG), Erich Ilmer, Christian Ovesny, Hannes Reinmayr, Harald Eder, Paul Perstling; Trainer Peter Roither

Promotion and cup quarter-finals

FC Salzburg won the 1989/90 regional league season without the first division players Reinmayr, Perstling and Eder, who left the club, with a 10-point lead over FC Hard .

In the 2nd division of the Bundesliga, FC Salzburg again showed excellent performances and at times also played for a promotion place. However, the team was no longer as compact as it was two years ago and promotion was no longer the club's declared goal. Salzburg delivered a sensation in autumn 1990 with the signing of the well-known first division players Franz Aigner and Walter Schachner . Above all Schachner, after all a frequent international and former Italian legionnaire, hit the ground running at FC Salzburg and with 18 championship goals was the main responsible for the strong offensive performance of Taxham in the autumn round. With 76 goals, Salzburg scored by far the most goals over the entire season, but the fact that it was not enough for promotion and ultimately not even to stay in the league was due to the inferior defensive performance of the club, with 81 goals they also received the most goals of all clubs. In addition, Walter Schachner, who left the club for the winter break, was no longer available to FC Bluna in the spring championship. In the end, FC Salzburg finished seventh in the relegation play-off and again relegated to the regional league.

There are still two interesting details to report from this game year. On the one hand, Salzburger Austria again suggested a merger of the two city clubs, this time being called FC Casino Salzburg , which was rejected by the Taxhamers, on the other hand, FC Salzburg caused a stir in the ÖFB Cup , in which one up to was able to advance to the quarter-finals and only failed there against the Austrian record champions SK Rapid Wien .

As a second division, FC Bluna Salzburg entered the ÖFB Cup in the second round and played a 5-5 draw against SCR Altach away from home , with a 4-3 win on penalties. In the third round they also defeated the state competitor ASVÖ FC Puch 4-1 before the next round, ASV Vösendorf, a direct competitor from the second division, waited for Salzburg. FC Salzburg clearly won this game 3: 1 and thus ranked among the top eight cup teams in Austria. The emotional favorite opponent, Austria Salzburg, who also qualified for the quarter-finals, was not drawn, but with the record champions Rapid they still had a dream ticket.

The game was played on April 23, 1991 at home in the Lehen Stadium in front of 2,000 spectators and found its deserved winner in the Austrian record champions, who took the lead in the 21st minute thanks to Heimo Pfeifenberger from Salzburg . However, the Taxhamers were able to keep the game open for a long time despite the second goal by Jan Åge Fjørtoft in the 39th minute and even scored the connecting goal by Edmond Tomic in the 74th minute. In the Rapid quarter of an hour the Hütteldorfer struck three more times through Hauptmann, Pfeifenberger and Medford and threw FC Salzburg out of the competition with 5-1 goals.

Team lineups of the cup quarter finals

FC Salzburg: Hans-Peter Berger senior; Peter Hrstic; Richard Moser, Josef Bauer; Gerhard Perlak senior, Hans-Peter Bauer, Thomas Kirchberger, Franz Aigner, Brametzer (78th Christian Streili); Manfred Mader, Edmond Tomic (84th Reinhard Michelak)

SK Rapid Vienna: Michael Konsel; Peter Schöttel; Michael Hatz, Andreas Poiger; Helmut Hauptmann, Heimo Pfeifenberger, Reinhard Kienast, Andreas Herzog (60th Christian Keglevits), Franz Resch (46th Andreas Reisinger); Hernan Medford, Jan Age Fjörtoft

Squad of the 1990/91 season

Torsten Thonhauser, Hans-Peter Berger (goalkeepers); Hans-Peter Bauer, Josef Bauer, Thomas Kirchberger, Brametzer, Reinhard Michelag, Richard Moser, Christian Streili, Robert Brandner, Josef Hrstic, Peter Hrstic, Jako Novokmet, Gerhard Perlak sen., Franz Aigner, Günther Greil, Manfred Mader, Edmond Tomic , Walter Schachner; Trainer Peter Roither

Relegation and merger with Austria Salzburg

After relegation from the 2nd Bundesliga, things slowly fell silent about FC Bluna Salzburg. The club spent the next few years in the third-class Regionalliga West, where from 1992 to 1995 it was ranked 12, 8, 6 and 4, although in the 1994/95 season, despite the fourth place, only three points for promotion to the Bundesliga, which from Salzburg's point of view has been represented by ASVÖ FC Puch since 1992, was missing.

The last season 1995/96 ended the FC Salzburg in seventh place in the table. After the season they agreed on a merger with Austria Salzburg in the third attempt. Despite its success, FC Salzburg was never able to win the hearts of Salzburg football fans and was now financially in the red. In addition, the Austria Salzburg amateur team had not had its own sports field since 1995, and the Lehen stadium was needed by Austria's professionals. In the summer of 1996, the amateurs of Salzburger Austria merged, who were promoted from the Salzburg League to the Regional League this season and finally had their own with the Taxham sports complex, which had a main, four training and one mini-boys' field and modern home space.

The players of FC Salzburg could of course not be integrated into the youth team of Austria and had to look for a new club. An unofficial successor club was founded for the youth footballers of Taxham with the ASV Europark Taxham , which is now also represented with a fighting team in the lower leagues of the state.

Known players

successes

  • 4 × Bundesliga 2. Division : 1984/85 , 1987/88 (USV Salzburg), 1988/89 , 1990/91 (FC Salzburg)
  • Quarter-finals in the ÖFB Cup : 1991 (FC Salzburg)
  • 7 × Salzburg regional champions: 1983, 1984, 1986 1987 (USV Salzburg), 1990, 1994, 1995 (FC Salzburg)
  • 3 × Salzburg indoor champions: 1990, 1991, 1992 (FC Salzburg)
  • 3 × Champion Regionalliga West (3): 1984, 1986 (USV), 1990 (FC)
  • 2 × champions Salzburg League (4): 1979 (UE Taxham), 1982 (USV Salzburg)
  • Champion 1st class A (5): 1977 (UE Taxham)
  • Champion 3rd class north (7): 1973 (UE Taxham)